Tag: OLTL

On July 27, staff from the Government Affairs Office (GAO): Mike Sokoloski, Laura Ness, Tara Montague, and I coordinated an event at Temple University in Philadelphia entitled, Family Day. This event brought together CRO families, legislators, field staff and office staff, including some of our ambassadors, with the goal of bringing attention to the need for an OLTL personal assistance rate increase. The event was highlighted by a client presentation, legislative presentations, and focus group meetings where stories of how a rate increase would improve quality of care.

Last week, during the Pennsylvania Homecare Association Annual Conference, Deputy Secretary for the Office of Long-Term Living (OLTL) Jen Burnett announced Managed Care Organizations (MCOs) will be required to reimburse providers at least the state posted fee-for-service reimbursement rate for personal assistant services. This “rate floor” will be in effect for the first 36 months post transition of each region. After the announcement, I had the opportunity to speak with Deputy Secretary Burnett, and she stated the reason OLTL made that decision was to provide stability for providers. During our conversation, I asked that her office consider extending the temporary rate floor to registered nurse (RN) and licensed practical nurse (LPN) services as well for the same reason. She invited us to meet with her formally to discuss. BAYADA’s Government Affairs Office (GAO) will work to set up a meeting with OLTL to lobby for the inclusion of RN and LPN services in the 36-month rate floor.

On April 6th BAYADA Leaders, including Practice President David Baiada,Chief Government Affairs Officer Dave Totaro, Assistive Care State Programs (ACSP) Practice Leader Eric Thul, Crocus Division Director Kevin Kuzmick, PCA Director Donna Russell-Kane, and I met with Senator and Gubernatorial Candidate Scott Wagner. This meeting was a result of a previous meeting that Dave Totaro and I had with Senator Wagner introducing the need to increase the personal assistant services (PAS) rate under the Office of Long-Term Living (OLTL) by an average of 10%.

The meeting took place in the BAYADA PCA office. We discussed the ACSP business, its challenges and advantages, as well as the wage issues associated with the program. Senator Wagner also heard first-hand about what it’s like to be a home health aide from PA Department of Aging’s Direct Care Worker of the Year, BAYADA aide Anne Pannone.

The conversation was productive, and Senator Wagner understands the value of home care and the cost savings it can provide to the Commonwealth. He has agreed to help us in our legislative priority of increasing the PAS rates and would also like to spend a day in the field with Anne to see the work first-hand.

Efforts are under way to communicate with adult offices that work with assistive care clients through the OLTL program. By bringing caregiving experiences together with voices of our clients and families, BAYADA’s Government Affairs Office has the ability to team up with service offices to fight for better reimbursement, which in turn can help with staff recruitment and retention.

Champions Among Us, a BAYADA quarterly newsletter dedicated to pediatric and adult client family advocacy, will soon become part of Care Connections, and will provide our clients with quarterly updates.

Don’t forget to join Hearts For Home Care at www.heartsforhomecare.com and help a client or family to join as well to become part of a growing group of people who are ready to advocate for a better tomorrow for home health care. An advocacy Facebook page will soon be underway and will be dedicated to advocacy efforts and clients’, families’ and our employees’ activities. Looking forward to seeing everyone at Awards Weekend!

Director of Government Affairs in Pennsylvania Laura Ness and I met with Division Director Kevin Kuzmick and several of the service office directors from the CRO division at the Government Affairs Office (GAO) this past Wednesday. The meeting focused on the development of advocacy efforts for the clients and families who receive assistive care services from the Office of Long Term Living waiver in the Philadelphia area service offices. An exciting outcome from the meeting was the idea of having a “family day” in the Philadelphia area where our families and staff can advocate for a better tomorrow.

Recently, Community Liaison and 2016 BAYADA Ambassador of the Year Mike Sokoloski hosted a roundtable with PA Representative Aaron Kaufer. BAYADA started building a relationship with Representative Kaufer before he was elected to the General Assembly. As a result of our relationship, Representative Kaufer took an interest in our issues early on and learned more about the state’s human services programs.

During the roundtable, we spoke about our need for increased reimbursement rates for personal assistant services under the Office of Long-Term Living and the need to equalize access to home and community based service by allowing presumptive eligibility*. Equalizing access was an issue of great interest to Representative Kaufer, and since the roundtable, the Government Affairs Office (GAO) has been in touch with the Representative multiple times to determine next steps in the process.

GAO looks forward to working with Representative Kaufer and others to ensure presumptive eligibility is allowed for home health care in the state.

*Presumptive eligibility: Individuals can be presumed eligible for Medicaid services while their full application is being processed. Presumptive eligibility grants greater access to care and allows the individual to receive medically necessary treatment.

Over the last several weeks, BAYADA’s Government Affairs Office (GAO), the Pennsylvania Homecare Association, our government relations firms Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, and the Bravo Group have worked to establish goals and strategies for the 2017-2018 legislative session. We evaluated what worked in years past, the current political climate, and our resources to establish our course of action.

2017 Goals:

Level the playing field, allow presumptive eligibility for home health care

Increase the personal assistant services (PAS) rate by an average of 10% for programs under the Office of Long Term Living (OLTL)

Next Steps:

GAO has identified several legislators to pursue as champions for our two goals. We are finalizing our research and putting together our fact sheets and will be ready to reach out shortly.